hello everyone, first ill say, im not a novice at wiring stuff been doing stuff for years including lots of complex audio installs. Now... I recently got a new BELL radar detector and wanted to hard wire it. No problem, i did that and went a week or so with no issues. Then decided it was a pain to reach up and turn on and off and wanted close control. Two days ago i installed a simple toggle switch and now whenever i start my car after work, my radio is off and i have to manually turn it on. I noticed that the radio also works with no key in the ignition if i hit the radios on button (this may be normal??) But the other isnt noraml, y would my radio need now to have its button pushed to turn on? My switch is wired as follows: Switch grounded to spot i drilled behind the knee bolster, about 10" from switch(great ground), power from obd green wire to switch - acc on switch to detector power(easy hardwire type wire kit) and detector grounded properly. If i left anything out not typing right assume it was done right . I just dont understand cause the only thing in the circuit that directly effects the car is the obd wire and it was fine till the switch was in. I dont think it matters if i leave the switch on or off when i leave my car but not sure yet. Any ideas on this one

 

It's normal to be able to turn on the sound system in a MINI with the key out of the ignition. Runs for about 20 minutes, then shuts off.

 

nice, good that makes me not worry about that, now i can work on my car with music more . any idea bout the other? its just weird cause it doesnt relate to the circuit at all and it deff started right after my toggle install?

 

Where did you wire in for power. That could be what your problem is.

 

just from the green wire for the obd behind the knee bolster, but that wire was used before adding the switch with no probs... weird

 

Do you power the detector down when shutting the car off?

 

You made that 10x more complicated than it needed to be. You have shorted your radio, and blew it's power detection. It thinks the car is off all the time, that's why you have to turn it on, and why it goes off every 30 minutes after you do so.


All you needed to do was wire into switched power and ground like shown below:
Wire it correctly, lose the hokey switch, then check and replace the radio fuse you blew.